


How Snape Turned into Less of a Prat

by SimplexityJane



Series: Resistance [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Laying Bricks, Oh Background Sweet Background
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-31
Updated: 2015-01-31
Packaged: 2018-03-09 18:36:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3260141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimplexityJane/pseuds/SimplexityJane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of course, it took three Howlers, thirty-three letters encased in red envelopes (but written in pen), and a heavily annotated book on bullying and its effects on the mind to affect said changes. Some sausages were harmed in the making of a better person. The owl thanks you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is just background for the main story, which is all going to be a retelling of the final year to include a real-life reaction to genocidal behavior, from some people you might not suspect (like it happens in real life). 
> 
> There are probably going to be a few of these.

The Howler shouted in Spanish, which was the first surprise.

The second was that it shouted at _Professor Snape_.

Every student in the hall burst out laughing save one, who was doing his best to pretend that he didn’t know _exactly_ who was screaming on the other end of that Howler, or why.

He shouldn’t have told Mum that the professor yelled at a First Year for not following safety procedures. If he hadn’t, Professor Snape wouldn’t be glaring at everyone and more likely to give detentions than actually think about the good advice Mum gave him in the letter.

Except the Howler was followed by a book, which plopped on his head at speed, and everyone howled again.

“AND READ THIS IF YOU WANT TO ACTUALLY LEARN HOW TO TEACH!”

The letter that Mum sent _him_ came in a discreet school owl, and it said that if he didn’t tell Mum how things went, she was going to take his cake away at Christmas. Cory scowled and wrote a letter to Audrey, who knew how to handle Mum.

Professor Snape was actually quiet, though, and when a second letter clad in a red envelope came the next day, he took it and opened it, recognizing it for the normal letter that it was. The owl stayed where it was until he shooed it away, and Corey wrote frantically to his mum about this development.

 _You made Snape quiet,_ was the first sentence, which probably only encouraged her. Anita Hadley had never met a challenge that she didn’t proceed to beat violently with a stick until it submit to her will. She’d passed this on to Audrey, who was determined to learn magic, at least theory, along with Cory (and along with all her classes at University), and had started a group of non-wizards whose siblings _were_ wizards.

Thomas Finch-Fletchley was a prat, even if his brother was in Cory’s House. Cory made sure to tell Justin this at least once a week, and usually got agreement.

The letters started going back and forth, and at Christmas Audrey said that Mum was going to marry Professor Snape in the end.

“He’s still an arse,” Mum said, ruffling Cory’s red, red hair and Audrey’s, which was purple at the moment. Cory didn’t know who his parents were, but Mum was the best thing that had happened to him after two foster homes that didn’t understand his magic. Mum was non-wizard, of course, but she didn’t care, because Cory needed her, and that was the most important thing.

Snape didn’t stop being difficult, but he stopped being the _biggest_ bastard in existence. It didn’t surprise Cory when, in his Fifth Year which wasn’t really his Fifth Year because they were in hiding, and Audrey was some sort of – Lady or something, even though she’d had to earn power, hadn’t been born with it, and Percy Weasley was going to _marry her_ –

Well, he wasn’t really surprised when Mum told him that Snape was still a spy for their side.

She didn’t say it, but Cory was pretty sure she was in love with him. And even if he was a Prewett like Percy said he was, he was still a Hadley, and Hadleys protected their own.

It was a bit odd, thinking that of Snape, but he'd do it anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

_Written on the first page of a well-worn book in the Hadley household, first of a set of letters stuffed between the pages. Some are  tearstained, and some smell like flowers:_

Professor Snape:

I understand that you believe you have the right to bully children because you are a teacher, and that your attitude will help them become better people – elsewise why do so? However, upon completion of this book I expect you will understand the fault in your logic.

If you do not, I will have you sacked, favored position from Dumbledore be damned. No child deserves to live in constant fear from their professor.

Regards,

Anita Hadley

.

Mrs. Hadley,

Your concern over my method is unwarranted. I apply appropriate punishments to people working with volatile ingredients, and they learn that what they are dealing with is dangerous. I cannot in good conscience _not_ punish someone who has created a highly potent acid on accident, simply because they do not follow basic directions.

As to your allegations of bullying, I would remind you that no one is expected to be coddled in the adult world. Should you attempt to have me removed from my position, I will of course accept any allegations you bring against me, as they are false.

Waiting,

Severus Snape

.

Mrs. Hadley,

The Howler was uncalled for. This second, understand, has not moved me from my position, though it has caused several accidents because students believe that a teacher who has been yelled at is somehow more amusing than their potions. Please refrain from such displays of emotion, as it really doesn’t help your argument.

Waiting,

Severus Snape

.

Professor Snape:

I hope you understand, what is said in the Howler accompanying this is in fact what I wrote in the first draft of my letter to you. My daughter, Audrey, told me that of course an abuser wouldn’t care, not when he feels he is in the right. Her abuser, her brother’s, and mine didn’t care, and I had forgotten that.

Understand that I don’t make empty threats. My son is in danger every moment he is in your presence, simply because he is not one of your precious few, chosen because of their House and their blood status. I have heard that a Boggart, what non-wizards call a bogey-man, took your form when exposed to one of your students.

I wonder, what would your Boggart take the form of? The thing you most fear.

I’ll tell you what I’m certain of: mine would be my children, broken with fear because someone like you decided to “toughen him up”. Turned cruel, as you have been, turned cold, as you have been. I have three sons, you know, and I’ve seen one of them turned like that. He’s dead now, and I remember trying to reach him like I’m trying to reach you, and it didn’t work. I stood over his grave, and the boys who had gotten him killed tried to start a fight with my oldest son while I looked on.

Most of us, Professor Snape, remember the pain and would _never_ hurt another person, because how can pain be met with pain and called justice?

I’ve dedicated my life to helping children be safe, Professor Snape. When their teachers, people meant to share in that dedication, become my enemy…

Well, you should really read that book, Professor. It would be a shame if we had bad blood between us.

Regards,

Anita Hadley

Post Script: I’m not married. It would be inappropriate to refer to me as Mrs. any longer.

.

Ms. Hadley,

I’ve read your letter.

My Boggart is a woman dead by my arrogance. I loved her and would have thrown myself in front of the spell for her, and yet she died anyway. It seems we have something in common after all.

Listening,

Severus Snape

.

Professor Snape,

Listening or hearing? I always ask my colleagues that when they should be doing the latter. If you’ve begun to read the book, I count you as hearing. If you look at this letter in contempt, as I’ve no doubt you did the first several letters, then you are doing neither and should immediately correct your behavior.

I will tell you something that was told to me: your pain is no excuse for your behavior. Understand that, Professor Snape, and perhaps we’ll find someone worth being under your exterior.

Regards,

Anita Hadley

.

Ms. Hadley,

I understand that the theories of Freud had been bandied about for some time in your part of the world. Tell me, will I find such egregious theories as envy of gender in this book? Or something Jungian? I cannot stand either.

I walk around with the reminder of every sin I committed on my left arm. It is difficult to act around that pain.

Hearing,

Severus Snape

.

Professor Snape,

There are lovely companies who will remove unfortunate tattoos for you, you know. I believe they could even cover a swastika, if that is your form of bigotry.

You think we all don’t walk around with pain? Another lesson: look up each of your contemporaries. How many are dead (if, like me, you are closer to middle age, this is a surprisingly high number, but you seem young)? How many imprisoned? How many carry their pain every moment, as you do, but do more good than harm? How many hate the world, as you do? You’ll find these answers will be surprising.

You won’t find Freud’s rubbish in that book, though Jung did have a few points. (Tell me, have you ever read Freud’s theory of the Uncanny Valley? Perhaps he was a fool and too easily led, but he had a point.)

Waiting,

Anita Hadley

.

Ms. Hadley,

It has been some time since the last letter. I’ve been reading the book you sent me, as well as preparing difficult potions that require utmost dedication. I don’t agree entirely, you understand; nothing in my life supports what this book says, but I do believe that it will be funny to see how badly students react to my requiring safety measures like those used in Muggle schools.

I went to Hogsmeade and found the article you spoke of. I loathe admitting that someone like Freud, who buckled under the weight of an idiotic society, could ever speak of something that is even possibly true.

Seeking,

Severus Snape

.

Professor Snape,

Non-wizards in the British community liken the word wizards use for them to the words certain people use to insult minority races. I understand that you have decades of use to work through, but it would be most appreciated if, in writing at least, you referred to us as we have asked to be called: as non-wizards.

If you feel this is optional, consider that in your world, you have been an outsider too. My son tells me that people call him a filthy name simply because his parents were most likely non-wizards. Give us this, Professor. We seek to change the world, but without work from within as well as without, nothing will happen.

My son wrote that you’re making people wear goggles now. I can only imagine how certain students reacted.

Regards,

Anita Hadley

.

Ms. Hadley,

It was indeed a sight. As to the other subject in your letter, I cannot say that in speaking I will be able to change my behavior. Thirty-four years is a long time to use a word, and most wizards will not think before they speak. In writing, however, acquiescing seems wise, as you are probably the only person in Britain whom I can speak to without feeling like I am talking to a bumbling buffoon.

Yes, wizards use the word, though they do not know the history of it.

With Regards,

Severus Snape

.

Professor Snape,

Why did you do it? Why deprive a man his right to tell others who he is, after refusing him the ability to speak of his species with dignity?

I understand fear. It’s in the streets even now. Men come into the hospital and shit blood, and no one will treat them because they believe, even now, that the pandemic is something that will taint them. My daughter wears badges and reminds everyone that she isn’t like them, and last week she was almost attacked. If circumstances were different, she would not be here.

I understand that the potion you were brewing is something that helps control the transformation. I also understand that howling was heard last night. If a man was being irresponsible in his duty, please tell me. I need to understand why the person I saw blooming has seemingly disappeared.

Waiting,

Anita Hadley

.

Ms. Hadley,

I have made four drafts of this letter. In some I’ve told you to go to hell, and in others I explain what happened with the whole truth. In some I tell you what Remus Lupin nearly did to me, when I was only sixteen years old. I feel a certain regard for you, one that I rarely feel for anyone, and certainly not a non-wizard woman who sent me three Howlers.

None of that matters, because Remus Lupin did not commit a crime, and that is what stings the most about this. The culprit was a man named Sirius Black, a man I have learned is not the traitor I thought him to be.

Your son, Cory, he would have sent you a letter about the Dementor attack: they were after Black, of course. He would have told you what Black did, and you would have believed me when I told you that he attempted to kill me when we were not yet out of school.

He and Remus Lupin were, and possibly have reconciled as, lovers. That is not so shocking in our world. That Remus Lupin is a werewolf, and Black thought a traitor, is shocking.

When Lupin did not take the most important potion I have ever brewed, going after Black and the true killer, I understood that he was still a Gryffindor: rashly going into danger without regard for others. He knew Black was there, he knew the criminal was there, and he knew that three students were there. Had he but waited, things would be very different.

I cannot say I would have believed him, as magic, even powerful magic, can be fooled. But I would have insisted he take his potion before doing something as idiotic as following Black without any barrier to protect students.

The criminal was caught, for a time, according to Albus Dumbledore. Had Lupin _not_ transformed fully, had he remained sane while his body changed, the criminal would not have escaped. I, having been unconscious at the time of the criminal’s capture (also something that could have been prevented), woke to find a fully grown werewolf attacking three children, the youngest not yet fourteen, the son of the man who saved my life and the woman I loved among them.

I have attempted to reform my behavior, if only to avoid another Howler more reminiscent of my maternal grandmother than anything in this world has a right to be, but this is something I could not stand. Circumstances, yes, mean that it is understandable why Lupin forgot his potion, but circumstances were also that I could have been killed, again, and students with me, because of his forgetfulness.

I cannot allow one I know will forget his most important source of sanity to remain in a school of children simply because he is not fully represented under the law. I cannot. Perhaps you will think this a rationalization, and perhaps it is.

I cannot apologize when I believe I am not in the wrong.

Regards,

Severus Snape

.

Professor Snape,

I considered burning this letter.

Actually, I considered cutting off contact whatsoever. You’ve learned the lesson I tried to teach you as well as you can, and it stings, yes, that you didn’t learn the others that you needed.

I’m sorry that you were hurt, Severus. I’m also sorry that Lupin was used by someone he considered a friend, and possibly a lover. I’m sorry for everyone involved in the situation, especially because I’ve been reading about your healthcare system, and it’s awful, even worse than ours when it comes to mental illnesses.

We stand on two sides of a chasm. Your side is crumbling with reality, and I offer a hand. Friendship, perhaps. Will you take it?

Truly,

Anita Hadley

.

Ms. Hadley,

I cannot promise to be a good man. I am not a good man, and circumstances demand I distance myself from all light yet again. There are things brewing, and none of us can stop them.

Please consider my words. Your continued actions with the Ministry make you a target.

Regards,

Severus Snape

.

Severus,

I refuse, just as I have always refused when men warned me what I was doing was unwise. My son tells me I would have been Sorted into Gryffindor, and though I feel a fondness for Ravenclaw virtues, I believe he has a point.

I have never heard your voice, I consider. This will be our nineteenth correspondence, including the Howlers of course, and I have never seen your face. Cory says you’re of dark complexion, though not like me or Audrey, or his brother Joseph who is black. I think he means you’re Mediterranean. He says most people with heavy wizarding ancestry are more than one thing, though, so perhaps you would be offended by my speculation.

I hope that as you step away from light, you will remember that there are people waiting for you on the other side of the darkness.

Fondly,

Anita

.

Ms. Hadley,

We are in a world that is shifting rapidly. What good does it do to stand still, screaming a battle cry? If you care for your future at all, stop this before it is too late. The criminal who escaped, Peter Pettigrew, is incredibly dangerous and determined to bring the Dark Lord back to full power. One non-wizard woman will not stop him.

Regards,

Severus Snape

.

Severus,

We live in a world that is shifting rapidly. What good does it do to hold on to the old ways of fear? There is no taboo at present, so we should be able to speak freely, the feared name light on our lips because of it.

I care for my future, so I remind you that allies and friends stand with you. Make sure Cory doesn’t get tricked into entering the Cup. He has no artifice, you understand, and I worry about him.

Yes, when I speak of my future I see you in it.

Fondly,

Anita

.

Why must you insist on this futile campaign? Our worlds will soon collide, with blood spilling in the wake of the catastrophe. Anita, please, I do not wish to see a good woman die.

Severus

.

It is the same reason you claimed when you revealed Lupin’s lycanthropy: I have a duty, Severus. Please stop attempting to force me out of action. If you understand me at all, and I cannot help but believe that you do, you know both how futile that is and how insulting.

He wouldn’t just kill me, Severus. He would kill everyone like me, and my children, and my people. I cannot allow that to happen.

Anita

.

I am no Gryffindor. I am selfish, and I am aware of that fact, and proud of it. It protects me from situations like this.

No more pleas will come from me. In the end we will both have our roles to play, and I can only hope that you do not hate me for mine, and give you the same courtesy.

Severus

.

Dragons _?_

Again, I ask: Dragons? And an underage wizard forced into the competition? I’ve read up on Unbreakable Vows, Severus. They are not something that anyone could approve of for a seventeen year old, let alone someone barely fourteen.

How is this legal? It is not. Binding contracts are for adults.

Irritated,

Anita

.

Burn cream is annoyingly complex. I did not make the game, nor the rules, nor the challenges.

The boy is an idiot, but he has the distinct talent of being able to annoy anything. It will serve him well, most likely. His mother was the same way.

Severus

.

Please tell me you understand the virtue of combining non-wizard and magical remedies. Please tell me one person in the entire wizarding world understands that without magic, people got creative.

The next task isn’t until February? That doesn’t seem like a good idea.

.

I understand the wisdom, of course, but the school nurse does not. Unlike among non-wizards, mediwitches are always respected, even those who learn breadth instead of depth. Madam Pomfrey does not feel that magic would respond well to non-wizard remedies, though she has not experimented as I have.

Do not ask, please, how I gained this experience. There are parts of my past that I cannot speak of even now.

.

I would never ask, Severus, just as you haven’t asked about certain things in my past. That is decent human courtesy.

Tell me how the NEWT students are getting on. Are they as distracted by the upcoming Yule Ball as my son is?

.

They are, in fact, worse.

I have been assigned chaperone duty.

Please, send poison with your next letter.

.

I sent bourbon, which will also serve as a Christmas gift. You didn’t tell me what liquor you liked, so I got the strong stuff.

Severus, a woman named Molly Weasley claims that Cory is her brother’s son. I don’t understand. He’s old for his Year, of course, but no one from your world ever claimed him. We assumed he was born of a non-wizard who was unstable, or who knew that her son was a wizard, as she took him to a church.

She wishes to make contact with him. I don’t know if I want her to. Are they kind, the Weasleys? Are they good? I cannot answer these questions.

.

The alcohol is appreciated. I’ve sent you a package along with this, a necklace. I know it is strange, but it has charms imbedded within it to protect the wearer. I believe you will need them.

The Weasleys are very Gryffindor-ish, which can be taken however you believe it should be. They are a large family, and though the younger generation is comprised mostly of idiots, they seem like people who would welcome a new addition to the family without trying to take him from his mother.

.

Thank you for the gift, Severus. I’m wearing it now, and though it is heavy, the chain is beautifully made. And I thank you for your advice.

I may not write for some time. The initiative to end House Elf labor is taking up most of my free time, and my other work is hectic as always.

I hope to meet you in the future. I feel that we will both be surprised with what we find.

.

Anita,

I have no doubt that you are busy, but I find myself writing.

I am afraid.

I am afraid, because my past has returned to haunt me, and I am afraid that when I meet it, I will not be able to face it. I feel changed, and not for the better. I feel warmth, but then fear reminds me what warmth used to be: a cruel hall, one Lord who was no better than the other, nothing to keep myself sane.

I cannot ask you to stop, because it would be an insult to your honor and your pride. I cannot protect you, because I cannot even protect myself.

When this ends, Anita, I would like to see you, but I do not believe I will survive this war. People like myself rarely do.

I ask only that you remember me, stubbornness and all.

Yours,

Severus Snape

.

I almost sent a Howler.

I almost sent three Howlers, ones that the witches in our group would have helped me enchant, as they did before.

How dare you act as if you will die? How dare you give me a letter, as if that matters to me?

I cannot remember you because I have never seen your face, heard your voice. I have never touched you, Severus, not as a friend or a lover. I do not even know if we would be good for each other, outside the page. I want to know, so badly.

You aren’t even thirty-five. I’m a decade older than you, and I have a family, and I wish I could be as selfish as a Slytherin and forget you.

If you make my first glance of you be in a coffin, Severus, I

I couldn’t finish that sentence. I’m so angry with you, and you meant to make me angry, of course. We have been corresponding close to two years now, sporadically on both our parts, and I feel that I know you well enough to scold you. But that would not work, not on you. So I ask you this:

Please, Severus, remember that you have people waiting for you. You may be an idiot sometimes, and too stubborn by far, but people would be affected if you died, myself most of all.

Anita

.

Ms. Hadley,

Correspondence between us must stop for a time. Remember that even a coward had something close to truth in his mind.

I cannot say what you wish me to say, just as you could not fulfill my wishes. Know that I will follow your advice as best as I can.

Regards,

Severus Snape


End file.
